Nowitzki on the floor

Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks’ leading scorer this season, took the floor with his Dallas teammates with about 15 minutes left before tipoff.

Nowitzki, who had been on the floor shooting about an hour earlier, was expected to miss the game with an ankle injury. Nowitzki appeared to be running a little stiffly coming out of the tunnel, but was in uniform for tipoff.

Nowitzki is averaging 25.8 points and 10.1 rebounds this season. He missed the Mavericks’ last game, an 83-82 loss to the Timberwolves when Dallas blew a 15-point lead.